Mid-August Tuesday night group run to Acton’s Wildflower Trail was a sequel to a similar session in July. Another heatwave prompted Romina from horticultural charity Cultivate London to deploy the GoodGymers for another treasure hunt involving finding hand tools and watering cans - with a twist! This time, the task was extended to sowing wildflower seeds. What would the seed mix look like? How would the GoodGymers sow them?

Kash cheated the system by walking straight to South Acton early and unintentionally catching Romina before she left the Cultivate HQ. Kash received instructions directly from Romina and even remembered some of the plants from the seed mix: hollyhock, calendula, poppy, and sweet pea.

Steph and Sevan ran from Ealing Broadway to meet Kash and Gaby at the cutest little shed ever: the Cultivate self-service station at the Wildflower Trail. Kash had already filled two watering cans at the tank and was working on the last one - rightly so, as everyone found out that filling the can takes time.

Gaby, Steph, and Sevan set off to water twelve trees - some more obvious than others - in six wildflower beds. Waiting for the water to fill the cans offered an opportunity for lively water cooler conversations, but also for a call to action: the GoodGymers don’t like standing still with nothing to do, so they decided to take turns at spot litter picking while waiting. Kash, in the meantime, started weeding the bed with wild hedging.

The team used up all the water (and most of the task time) to come to the rescue of the thirsty trees. Before leaving the last five minutes for a weeding blitz, each GoodGymer had a go at sowing the seeds of love (according to Steph and Tears for Fears) or at the Wildflower Trail Mix (according to Sevan), with a crunchy insect insert. With sowing completed, the GoodGymers finished filling three Greener Ealing bags with weeds and carried them to the Cultivate HQ. Another rescue mission at Wildflower Trail completed!

Next week we are supporting the William Hobbayne charity with the maintenance of their outdoor space - sign up now!. In two weeks, we are back in Acton to work with Cultivate London collect leaves from the local school grounds.

Sunday evening : 10pm and race time. Greenwich foot tunnel and 4 goodgymers ran 10km in the tunnel. Starting every 5secs, 86 runners set off to run 27 laps of the tunnel. Crazy race with some zigzags as open to the public. Very hot and stuffy but a fun and crazy 10km. Goodgym Haringey and Goodgym Ealing Steph Ducat

Each Monday morning, GoodGym lends a hand at the South Ealing Food Cupboard, helping the volunteers get surplus food sorted and ready for the local community.

This week’s haul was a more regular size, but still had plenty to keep us busy. Mohamed and Iram teamed up to tackle bags of carrots and piles of potatoes. Thankfully, the eggs arrived already neatly portioned into half-dozens, a much smoother job than last week’s egg marathon!

Alongside the veg, we stocked the shelves with cartons of oat milk, hot sauce and lots of popcorn. Whether patrons are making a healthy salad or settling in for a film night, this week’s delivery had them covered.

I was due to marshal at Pitshanger Park Junior parkrun but a sprained knee ligament made even walking tricky - luckily one of the other volunteers (my husband!) agreed to a swap and I was able to stand still and hand out finish tokens. Even with a dodgy knee I could manage that 😊

School holidays had hit Acton Junior parkrun attendance today as volunteer and runner numbers were down. The children were either on holiday or still in bed. An emergency call to action had gone out for volunteers and the rota had filled with West 4 Harriers and GoodGymers (sometimes both), including Maria who came to her first GoodGym task and used her past experience of working with children to make a positive impact on the runners. Welcome Maria! 🥳👏

With the barebones set of volunteers, all the essential roles were covered. Michelle, Kash and Joanna were marshalling, with Maria and Sevan on finish tokens and barcode scanning respectively. Jon came in disguise, funnel managing in his West 4 Harriers kit and Steph had the sometimes entertaining, sometimes agonising task of tailwalking.

Of the 40 finishers today, as is often the case, the last one needed some motivation to get to cross the line. Their "motivator" parent tried different techniques until their last resort, to say no sweets and that they would fart in the refusenik child's bed🤢. That last threat scared the little girl and she broke into a run all the way to the finish with Steph close behind.

Mrs S is one of our regulars when it is weeding season. I was back today for the back garden as weed, grass, nettles, a few dandelions and thistles have come back in between the slates and through the wooden fence. Started in the shade as hot at lunch time but then got cooked as the sun was taking over the shady spaces. Ninety minutes in and a big black bag full of weed and Mrs S will be able to use the back garden, or shall I say her grand daughter who wanted to play outside. Garden is now weed-free but we will be back if they try to show their leafy faces and roots. I will be back.